19 weeks and 4 days today!  We took some unplanned trips to the OBGYN this week.  I was a bit worried but everything is absolutely fine.  Baby is perfect and active and was a little bigger than average for 19 weeks, about 10 inches head to toe.  All measurements were normal, the heart has good valves, the cord has three arteries, etc.  We got lots of good pictures but this one is my favorite:

I like how the face is toward you and you can see the nose and eye area really well.  I started feeling the baby kick a little on Wednesday.  It felt a little like a jellyfish swimming around at first...whooosh, but yesterday I was sitting outside and reading and I got two really good kicks right below the bellybutton.  They were so hard that I could see them!  It was rather shocking.  Stay tuned for our gender announcement on Cinco De Mayo!

Tough week it's been, hasn't it?  I could dwell on the sad events across the country and within my circles, but I'm ready to look forward to happier things.  After all, the cherry blossoms are in bloom!

I had my 18 week appointment this week.  The little booger squirmed all around so it took the midwife a couple of minutes to find the heartbeat, but it was a good steady heartbeat and everything seems fine.  Two weeks till we get to see the baby again and find out the gender! I'll be looking for a new midwife and/or birthing center when we're in the Phoenix area for Robert's graduation in seven and a half weeks.  Moving in the middle of the pregnancy does make things a little complicated.

I'm feeling well and generally in a good mood.  Sleep has been evading me quite a bit though.  All my life I've been able to fall asleep at the drop of a hat, but nowadays, I wake up in the middle of the night and feel completely awake.  It feels like my brain is going a million miles an hour.  Thank goodness for naps!   

I went to Motherhood Maternity yesterday for a pair of pants that were on sale and they gave me a bag of goodies including a baby bottle and a sample packet of Beudreaux's Butt Paste.  I can honestly say I did not expect to go shopping and leave with butt paste :)

It's spring!  Hard to believe since there is still a big pile of dirty snow in the mall parking lot.  With the weather getting somewhat warmer, I've been able to hike up East Rock Park a few times in the last couple of weeks.  I took Murphy with me today and wore him out pretty good, so I thought this afternoon would be a good one to try something I haven't been brave enough to do for a while...take Murphy to the dog park.

Murphy running a lure course, 2009

Murphy has had a few bad dog park experiences, stemming, I believe, from the time about 3 years ago that he tried to play with a tiny jack russell puppy and the puppy's owner went berserk yelling that Murphy was attacking the little thing.  Ever since that time, Murphy has obsessed over puppies and small/anxious dogs.  Let me be clear, my dog is not aggressive and has never hurt another dog, but he plays rough and tries to pin anxious dogs to the ground while growling. This doesn't always go over well with the owners. 

I am always very attentive of Murphy around other dogs, correcting him if he even LOOKS at another dog the wrong way.  Today was wonderful, though.  The four dogs in the park took turns introducing themselves to Murphy, he had a few good games of chase, and then after about 5 minutes, we left.  Why?  I think it's important for him to leave with a positive experience...maybe that will make them more likely in the future.

So I noticed that I wore the same shirt today as I did in my post two weeks back.  Here's the side-by-side comparison:

14 Weeks

16 Weeks

I'm very excited that I can now say I'm four months pregnant.  When people ask how far along I am and I respond in weeks, I can always see their brains working to figure it out in months anyway.  And four months seems like a lot- almost halfway to term- yay! 

Arizona update:  it looks like we will be moving into a 3 bedroom house on the campus of Arizona Polytechnic in late June/early July.  It's not that pretty but it sure is very convenient, functional, and a bargain.

 Happy Belated Easter everybody!